SOON after the holiday truce with the communists ended, the government shifted to higher gear its nationwide operations Tuesday against the terrorist group, military officials said.
Soldiers, who spent time with their families on New Year’s day, grabbed their backpacks and their firearms once more and returned to their routine as soldiers to fight the enemy of the state.
The resumption of military operations against enemy forces started in the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao Region, Lanao del Norte, and Bukidnon, considered hotbeds of New People’s Army rebels and Islamic state-inspired fighters.
Hot pursuit operations are taking place in Davao Oriental against the NPA rebels who staged two separate attacks—at an army patrol base in Barangay Tubaon and at a community near Tuabao village on Christmas Day.
The rebels also attempted to snatch Arbilito Catampao, a militiaman manning the post, the officials said.
Hours after the attack in Davao Oriental, rebels of the Guerillas Front 34 harassed a Cafgu patrol base under the 72nd Infantry Battalion in Melale Village in Laak, Compostela Valley.
The two NPA-initiated attacks have been considered by the Armed Forces a violation of its unilaterally declared truce.
“Yes, now is the best time to end this problem and let our country develop and improve the lives of the people,” said Maj. Gen. Noel Clement, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division base in Compostela Valley.
So far, there are no reports of fighting between government forces and the NPAs in the countryside.
Clement said wide scale hunt against the NPAs would be heightened in the coming days aimed at stamping out the decades-long insurgency.
“So we can put a stop to their atrocities and extortion,” Clement said.
For his part, Defense Department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said the resumption of military offensive against the NPAs was a vital tool to finish off the insurgency problem, a critical component in achieving economic development.
“We have areas [where] local economies are not prospering because of the activities of the terrorists, especially those engaged in kidnapping, arson, extortion…it is important to conduct focused operations,” Andolong said
President Rodrigo Duterte declared the NPA a terrorist group following the killing of a four-month old boy in Bukidnon the Chief Executive condemned.